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A child can hit out at you or anyone else for a variety of reasons. Tantrums. Frustrated at not getting what they want. Anger toward siblings. Or simply hitting out of habit because you, as a parent, didn’t do anything to stop it in the first place. If your child is still young, it’s not too late to stop this bad hitting habit and prevent it from blowing up into something dreadful later.

1. Figure out a message to your child that hitting is never acceptable. The best message is to grab hold of her hand and use an authoritative voice to warn her.

2. Or make them sit on a “thinking chair”. When I was a kid, my dad made me stand in the corner for a few minutes to think about my bad behavior. Having a “thinking chair” and making your child sit there for a couple of minutes after they’ve hit someone is probably a good idea. After he has done his time, explain why he had to sit there.

3. Or remove luxuries. Tell your child that if they continue to hit, there will be no ice-cream after dinner, or any luxury he or she has been taking for granted.

4. Hitting back won’t solve the problem. I’ve known parents who use the cane or bare hands or even belts to hit back at their child for bad behavior. Did it work? Usually no. The children these parents hit grew up to be more violent!

5. Be patient. It’ll take time for the child to learn or readjust to a new behavior (of no hitting).

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Related links:

Secrets to child discipline

11 tips for talking to your child

Parenting: 5 tricks for child tantrums

Parenting: 8 ways to avoid conflict with your child

Parenting: Top 10 rules for child-taming

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Sleep is very important for everyone, to rest and gain energy after a long day of activities. This doesn’t only apply to adults, but also to your young babies. Parents always find if difficult to get their kids to sleep.

. [source: Children’s Medical Center]
Supernanny Jo Frost recommends 9 rules for kids with sleeping problems:

1. Praise each stage in the bedtime routine that’s smoothly completed. Praise children for their help and involvement. Single out something to praise them for at the end of the day just before they go to sleep.
2. Make sure that everyone involved in caring for your kids abides by the same rules. The parent who has put the child to bed is the one who follows through if the child then wakes and gets up. It’s nice to let your kids snuggle up in bed with you on weekend mornings but don’t allow your kids to get into bed with you on other occasions.
3. Always stick to the bedtime routine. Don’t allow times to slip and don’t rush things. Don’t make exceptions to accommodate the TV schedule.
4. A set bedtime and a set bedtime routine are clear boundaries that tell your child you’re in charge. Making sure the child sleeps through the night in his own bed spells out the same message. These boundaries also make it quite clear there are places and times of the day reserved for you and your partner.
5. Tell your child what comes next in the bedtime routine so he’s mentally prepared for each stage. Set short limits. Your aim is to be authoritive but not intimidating.
6. Keep explanations and debates to a minimum when settling children who have woken in the night. The first two times, explain that “It’s bedtime”, and after that, say nothing.
7. It’s important to not become so overwhelmed by the sound of your child crying that you rush in to comfort her every couple of minutes. Keep the emotional temperature down as far as possible.
8. Get your kids involved in their own bedtime by setting them some small, achievable tasks - undressing, pulling out the bath plug, fetching a toy for a sibling.
9. Bedtime and the run-up to it should be a period of calm. Baths and bedtime stories help a child to unwind. And once you’ve got a good sleeping pattern established for your child, make the most of the remainder of the evening and relax yourself!

There are also some useful information on child sleeping problem here.
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Related artile:Sleep Problems

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It is important to establish good communication with your child. This is especially be important to forge a strong and close relationship among family members. Close relationship between family members is very vital in preventing children from developing mental health problems or unhealthy lifestyles such as smoking, consuming alcohol or even drugs. According to Supernanny Jo Frost ,here are some tips on talking to your child:

1. Don’t scream and shout! Use the Voice of Authority for bad behaviour
2. Praise your child when he’s behaving well
3. Try to talk to your child in a positive way as much as possible. Instead of always telling her what you don’t want her to do, try putting it in a different way. Instead of saying, “Don’t put your dirty hands all over the sofa” say “Let’s wash your hands now. They’re dirty. Then you can come on the sofa and I’ll read you a story.”
4. Don’t be abrupt or bark out commands. You’ll get instant resistance
5. Never use hurtful words or label your child. Make it clear it’s the bad behaviour you don’t like, not your child.
6. Lead by example and always be courteous.
7. If your child shouts back at you, don’t rise to the bait. A screaming match does no one any good. Tell your child not to speak to you in that manner.
8. Don’t compare your child unfavourably with her brothers and sisters and never, ever talk about her to a third party within earshot. She might not look as though she’s listening, but she’ll have caught every word.
9. Don’t offer too many choices to a small child.
10. Don’t bargain when he’s having a tantrum
11. Go large! Let you child read your body language. Try to be playful in the way you talk to your child.

We got 25 WAYS TO TALK SO YOUR CHILDREN WILL LISTEN. Teresa Simpson shows How to Talk to Your Child too.

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Related article:
25 WAYS TO TALK SO YOUR CHILDREN WILL LISTEN
How to Talk to Your Child

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How do you discipline a child? Do you scream and feel like pulling out all your hair? Or do you keep your cool and use your voice with authority? When you child’s done something wrong, you need to communicate that fact with the Voice of Authority – Supernanny Jo Frost. And according to her, there are 6 secrets to disciplining your child:

1. Go to your child. Don’t shout to her from halfway across the room.

2. Get down to her level so you don’t intimidate her with your height. Crouch on your heels so you can make direct eye contact with her. You’re not issuing commands from above that she can pretend to ignore.

3. Hold you child by the arms so he can’t run away or interrupt eye contact. Say, “Look at me, please” if he tries to turn away.

4. Don’t be threatening and don’t grit your teeth!

5. Adopt a low, firm tone. This isn’t a threatening, angry, belittling or bargaining tone. It’s a tone that tells the child you mean business. It communicates displeasure.

6. Tell her clearly, calmly and sternly what she’s done wrong. “Hitting people is not allowed! You don’t hit other people. I don’t want you to do it again, please.”

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Related links:
Everything I need to know I learned in kindergarten
Parenting: Top 10 rules for child-taming
Parenting: 5 tricks for child tantrums

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